Chapter 6
In this final chapter of the book, Lenny and Georges' stories at the ranch are rounded off in a suprising and heart wrenching ending. Summary Waiting by the pool where he was told to go if he did something bad, a dismayed Lennie starts creating images in his head of those who would be disappointed in him. This includes his deceased Aunt Clara and a 'giant rabbit', both of whom offer insults and angry words which makes him all the more scared and saddened. Because of a plan he made while waiting and as the rabbit told him that George would beat him bloody, when George finally arrives at the pool, Lennie immediately asks for George to 'give him hell' as he feels that he deserves it this time. George refuses and also refuses Lennie's offer to run away from here and instead accepts Lennie's request to hear the story of their future house with the rabbits. George tells this story very willingly, all the while he is preparing Carlson's Luger and himself to shoot Lennie in the back of the head where it would hurt least. George tells Lennie to 'look across the water' so that he can picture the house in his head. Lennie does this gleefully and late into the story he decides that they should get the house now. Meanwhile, sounds in the brush of the other workers had been getting closer and now George realises that he must shoot Lennie now or not at all. Eventually he manages to shoot him directly in the back of the head and Lennie falls dead immediately without quivering, much like Candy's dog who was shot the same way. After the gunshot, the other ranchworkers find them and figure that George wrestled the Luger from Lennie. While Carlson and Curley remain oblivious to George's pain and pry for details, Slim offers his condolences and takes him away leaving Carlson and Curley in apparent confusion at men having basic human emotion. Characters Lennie appears the same in this chapter as he did in the first, capable of making plans for himself but not executing them without George's permission. In addition to this, we see that Lennie is more scared of psychological torture than he is of physical as he desperately wants George to come back even though he thinks that he is going to be 'beaten bloody' by him. Lennie's mind images could either have been simple daydreams or possibly hallucinations which would indicate some form of mental trauma, possibly stress. Hallucinations require a lot of emotion to be created for that reason and as such this may indicate that he is more than capable of the same emotions as other people. George shows that he is stronger emotionally than most people could be as he is able to kill his best friend in order to save him from a horrible future. He is extremely saddened by Lennie's death but intelligent enough to realise that he did the right thing so there seemed to be little doubt in what he did, simply disbelief that he was able to do it. Amazingly, he was not angered by the other workers' crude responses to finding that Lennie had been shot and was more than willing to go and 'have a drink' with them when Slim offered. Curley and Carlson seem less than human in this chapter and feel no empathy whatsoever for George who just had to euthanise his best friend though they do not exactly seem happy to see Lennie lying dead on the floor. It may be that the whole drama had numbed them of emotion. Slim however was more sympathetic and took George under his wing, trying to cheer him up after he had been forced to do something so awful by taking him drinking. Slim always liked Lennie and as his feelings where so much stronger towards George's suffering than Lennie's death it can be assumed that he agreed with what George had to do. Setting The setting within this chapter is identical in every way to the first chapter in an almost nostalgic way, the only major difference being the addition of a heron and a second water-snake (the first being eaten by the heron which could be seen as symbolism), in addition to this, Lennie drinks from the pool again as he did in the first chapter. Steinbeck had obviously tried to make it very similar as it is even at almost the same time of day that it occurs, late afternoon. George had probably recognised the niceness of the place and thought the familiar sights would calm Lennie down as he would remember their campfire and feel safe. Themes and Writing Style This chapter is very nostalgic of the beggining of the book, reintroducing the same setting again, just slightly different in some ways. It refers back "The deep green pool in the Salinas river was still in the late afternoon" refering to the previous time. This could be a theme of nostalgia and longing, showing that the characters' one plausable dream is now impossible, further distancing them and showing them as ''"the loneliest guys in the world." '' Another theme is friendship, which remains throughout the book, even through Lenny's death. This is shown as George knows that if Lenny stays alive, he may have a harsh life in prison, or just be killed by Cur ley so, he puts him out of his future misery by killing him with Carlsons luger. This is the ultimate act of friendship for George, and his courage is shown through the fact that it takes him a number of attempts to actually kill (or help, depending on how you see it) Lenny. Steinbeck suprisingly gives us less clues about the George's emotions in the chapter compared to the previous chapter, therefore leaving a lot to our imagination. Although once Lenny is killed, some of George's feelings are revealed, wheras during the killing, not much is revealed. All we are told relating to emotions, is that George is "wooden" and "when he raised the gun his hand shook." This is typical of Steinbeck's writing style as he likes to leave a lot up to your imagination, and any snippets of emotion are always shown through actions or speech. Conclusion and Final Comment So, overall this book and final chapter has been very unique, and also very depressing once we read the ending. It shows that the "American Dream" is near impossible to achieve as other things will get in the way and prevent you from reaching your goal. The book could also seen to be left on a cliff hanger as we do not, and want to, know what happens to George now. Will he be kicked from the ranch? Will he be put in prison? We will never know...